Comfort
by fishstic
Summary: Ruka Trevelyan is unhappily married to a man, to please her family, and her cousin Inquisitor Elissa Trevelyan knows this. The pair often enjoy chats like this one in the garden. *Cassandra/Female Trevelyan pairing, but Cassandra isn't actually in the fic*


Ruka hummed to herself as she tended to the Embrium growing in Skyhold's garden. This was the least she could do to thank the inquisitor-to thank her cousin-for not forcing her and her husband out when their arrival at the conclave was… delayed by several days. She sighed as she dug her fingers into the dirt, watching as it covered the ring on her finger and wishing she had the courage to take the thing off and throw it in her husband's face while dramatically leaving for good.

At the sound of footsteps behind her she pulled her hands up out of the dirt quickly, afraid it might be _him._ She patted down the dirt around the stem of the Embrium as the footsteps drew closer. Her hand stilled when a shadow fell over her and the plant.

"From here the flower is almost as tall as you," the voice was as timid and shy as Ruka's own and she recognized it immediately. She often wondered if people were confused by the inquisitor being so soft-spoken.

Ruka breathed a small sigh of relief. "Oh. Hi, Elissa," she said as she considered what Elissa had said. "It's not hard to be almost as tall as me when I'm sitting down." Then she smiled and looked up to Elissa and added, "or taller."

Elissa smiled and moved to sit beside Ruka, glancing at Ruka's ring as she did so. "How is it?"

"The Embrium is growing nicely," Ruka replied.

"That's… not exactly what I meant," Elissa said. She sighed slightly and poked around in the dirt at the base of the plant in front of her. "I know you got Varric to give Cassandra the book she wanted," she said gently.

Ruka blushed slightly and looked away for a moment. "Cassandra enjoys them."

Elissa nodded. "What about you?"

Ruka motioned for Elissa to follow her as she stood up to go check on the Crystal Grace growing elsewhere in the garden. "I've never read them."

Elissa sighed and frowned slightly. "What happened _after_ you gave it to her?"

"She thanked me." Ruka stopped by the Crystal Grace and began checking it over for discoloration, droopy leaves and other signs of things going wrong.

"And…?" Elissa insisted.

Ruka sighed. " _He_ saw."

Elissa nodded. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him that it was a friendly gesture, nothing more," Ruka said.

Elissa nodded then held out a hand gently, which Ruka took as an invitation for a hug. Elissa smiled slightly and hugged back. "Dorian said you were crying when he last saw you," she said gently. "I take that to mean, he didn't believe you."

Ruka shook her head slightly against Elissa's shoulder. "My husband never believes me. Just me _looking_ at a woman I'm not related to is too… _wrong_ for him."

Elissa nodded, hugging Ruka in silence for a moment. "They're wrong you know."

Ruka pulled away from the hug to look at Elissa as she asked, "Who's wrong? About what?"

Elissa took a breath to steady herself to say the next thing, just exactly as she'd practiced with Aydan several times before. "Everyone who says that _we_ are _wrong_ for existing the way we do. They are wrong."

Ruka shook her head. That couldn't be true, not with how many had said it. "Everyone? Even my parents? Impossible."

"Everyone," Elissa said. "Even your parents," she paused for a moment and her voice was noticeably strained when she continued, "and mine."

Ruka shook her head. "That can't be right. All those people can't be wrong. How do you know they are?"

Elissa steeled herself; she'd expected this, she'd been the same way when Aydan was telling her the same thing. She couldn't just expect Ruka to except it right away. She needed something that Ruka _did_ accept right away. "How do you know they're not?"

She waited a full minute for Ruka to make a reply, and when she offered none, continued, "After you met Dorian's father with us, you said that it was wrong of him to try and change Dorian. That it was wrong for him to hate Dorian for doing what he does, when all he was doing was living. If that's true, why would it be any less wrong for our parents to try and _change_ us, in the same way for the same reason?"

"Because we're girls," Ruka said quietly.

"Being girls does not mean we need to change," Elissa said.

Ruka shook her head slightly and sat down with her back against the garden wall. "I don't understand."

Elissa sighed and thought for a moment before simply saying, "You are a person."

Ruka shook her head. "I'm a girl."

Elissa shook her head and said firmly, "A person."

"A girl person," Ruka said.

"Still a person," Elissa replied. "Ay is a person. Dorian is a person. Josephine is a person. Cassandra is a person. You, me, Sera, Krem, Leliana, we're all people."

Ruka tilted her head. "Even Cullen?"

Elissa shrugged. "I'm not sure, Leliana thinks he doesn't have a soul."

"Cassandra," Ruka said quietly. "She doesn't _need_ to change."

Elissa tilted her head at the sudden change in Ruka's tone. "Do you want her to change?"

Ruka shook her head slightly. "Not really. But… I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Elissa asked.

Ruka blushed slightly. "I just wonder… what Cassandra would look like in a dress."

Elissa smiled. "You have a crush on her, don't you?"

Ruka blushed hotly and covered her face with her hands. "No!"

Elissa chuckled and put a hand on Ruka's shoulder gently. "Don't worry, Ruka. I'm sure she likes you too."

Ruka peered out from behind her hands. "Wait really?"

"Who wouldn't like you?" Elissa asked, and when Ruka just looked at her ring in response, decided that was a terrible question. "She asked me about you. More than once. She wanted to know you better but she's afraid she might have done something to scare you."

"The only scary thing is how pretty she is," Ruka said quietly.

"Why don't you come have dinner with me, Ruka?" Elissa asked. "Cassandra, Ay, Josephine and Leliana will be there. You can talk to Cassandra."

Ruka looked down. "But what if _he_ —"

"He's not here. I tipped my hand a little for you, cousin. All within my power as inquisitor. Cullen sent him out with a group of soldiers to investigate the Venatori presence in the Hissing Wastes. He left a couple hours ago."

Ruka nodded slightly. "How long will he be gone?"

"With any luck, forever," Elissa said then continued when Ruka gave her an 'are you serious' look, "A few months probably, he'll stay out there until Cullen assigns him somewhere else."

"And if he doesn't?" Ruka asked, her voice quavering.

"Then he's disobeying direct orders from a superior," Elissa said, "but I don't think we have to worry about that. He has a disturbing amount of respect for Cullen."

Ruka nodded. "So… when's dinner?"

Elissa smiled. "Right about now, I'd say. I asked them to wait and see if I could get you to come eat with us."

Ruka stood up so quickly she almost knocked Elissa over. "But the food will get cold! We have to hurry!" She took Elissa's hand and started heading out of the garden.

"Of course," Elissa said with a smile and a chuckle. "Wouldn't want dinner to get cold."


End file.
